Patio Lighting: Lighting the Space You Actually Sit In|How to Light a Patio? Start With How You Use It|Outdoor Living Lighting Done Properly

The back of the house has a different job

Front yard lighting is seen from outside. Out back the light is around you, not in front of you. That flips the priorities. Nobody is grading the back yard from the street. The only test is whether anybody wants to sit there.All of which adds up to one point. The front and the back need different work, and one light over the door is the usual result of not planning it. Two spaces, two briefs, and one design conversation that covers both.

Glare is the enemy

A single glaring bulb undoes an otherwise good plan. Look at a bright source and everything beyond it goes black. The fix is to keep sources out of the sight line: down at the deck, overhead well above the eye, or hidden behind furniture.

The overhead layer

The reason bistro and string lighting works so well outdoors is that they define a room. A patio without them has no top to it. With them it reads as a defined space. Warm and dim is what you want, because bright overhead strings turn a dinner into a parking lot.None of this is a question of spending more, since most of what separates a good patio from a harsh one is where things point.

Building the plan

Think of it as layers, not one switch. Something overhead to define the space. Something low for the steps, the edges and the path in. And something aimed at one or two features worth looking at. Put them on separate controls if https://sergiouars800.focalledger.com/posts/commercial-exterior-lighting-why-a-dark-storefront-costs-you-why-commercial-outdoor-lighting-matters-the-business-case-commercial-outdoor-lighting-done-properly you can, because the dinner setting and the cleaning up setting are not the same.

Restaurants and businesses have the same problem with higher stakes

A restaurant patio has to solve this every single night. Bistro and string lighting over an outdoor dining area is what keeps guests seated once the sun goes. Nothing changes technically. Only the reason does.

Lighting buys you months

An unlit patio stops being usable in October. A lit one keeps working well past the point the sun stops cooperating. In the Upstate that is a real number of extra evenings, and almost all of them are dark by six. The lighting is the thing standing between a nice evening and an unused patio.

Something worth knowing about color

Anybody who has sat under a bright outdoor light in July knows what shows up. Warmer light pulls in fewer of them, which happens to be the same answer aesthetics gives. It will not make a patio bug free, and that is not a claim worth making. But it is worth factoring in.Worth adding: the same warm setting suits the roofline above the patio, so the two do not disagree with each other.

Getting your outdoor space planned

The plan comes from seeing how you use the space, not from a template. EverCrest Lighting designs and installs patio and outdoor living lighting for residential and commercial properties in Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina, from Greenville. Consultations are free. Call (864) 252-1732 or email [email protected].

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